Luigi Marraccini

Luigi Marraccini was born in the small town of Kiulianova, Italy in 1964, the oldest of three children. Both of his uncles were musicians, one a well-known accordion player, the other a singer. His father wanted to pass on the family's musical heritage, and so convinced Luigi at the age of seven to learn the guitar. Luigi began taking classical guitar lessons from Virrotiano Della Cananea, the Director of the Conservatory of Music of Teramo, Italy. Although initially not very interested in playing classical guitar, by the age of ten he had been captivated by flamenco music with its freedom, its range of emotion and its sense of cultural history. He taught himself how to play as best he could by listening to the rare recordings that he would find. At the age of eleven he recorded flamenco guitar tunes dedicated to the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca to be transmitted over the local radio station, and at fourteen, he was chosen to record solo flamenco guitar music for the European Rollerskating Championships.
     At age 16 Luigi started his professional career playing in clubs all around Italy, broadening his experience ina wide variety of styles including underground, disco and commercial music. In 1984 he recorded with the famous Italian singer Luciano Nelli in Goteborg, Sweden for VCM Records. Following his recording engagement, from 1984 to 1986, he traveled to Sweden and Finland playing in local clubs and on the Siljia and Viking Cruise Lines.
     After a few more years playing in Italy and Europe, Luigi moved to Los Angeles in 1989 where he attended the Guitar Institute of Technology, part of the Music Institute in Hollywood. After his graudation in 1991 he went back to Italy and lived in Rome, where he made contacts in the flamenco music field which led him to travel to Madrid, Spain where he met and studied with the renowned guitar professor and player Antioco Moracho at the Flamenco Academy of Amor De Dios. While there Luigi also had the privilege of playing with flamenco dance teachers Nino Gonzalez and Maria Magdalena.
     In 1993 Luigi returned to Los Angeles to begin the development of recording projects and is also presently actively pursuing live concert engagements.